100th self-immolation by Tibetans

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 70,000 people. Since its beginning in March 2011, an average of 3,000 people have been killed per month with more than 60 percent of them being civilians. The war is said to be between the Syrian government and rebels but seems more like a war on the Syrian people. Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is killing his people with fighter jets and missiles. The bloodshed has gone on for three years, but the world has simply looked on with folded arms. The United Nations is just announcing the number of fatalities.

Like the victims of the Syrian civil war, Tibetans who perform self-immolation sadden the world. A Tibetan Buddhist monk on Wednesday poured gasoline on his body and set himself ablaze in Kathmandu, Nepal, on the first day of the Tibetan calendar. He was rushed to a hospital but remains in critical condition. Global media said he was the 100th Tibetan to self-immolate since the first in 2009. Tibetans resisted China`s occupation of their country with armed protests in 1950, but Beijing`s growing control is depriving them of hope for independence. So monks have stepped up to fight for independence by violating their rules and burning themselves to death. Tibetan Buddhism bans any kind of killing, including suicide.

The Supreme People’s Court and Public Security Ministry of China said burning oneself is a crime since those who do so harm public safety and social order for the purpose of the country`s disintegration. They released a guideline, saying, “Punish those who help or encourage others to burn themselves because it purposely deprives the lives of others.” A Tibetan monk who was arrested for helping to set other monks on fire was given a suspended death sentence, which can be mitigated to life behind bars after a two-year probationary period in prison. China devised a reward system of up to 200,000 yuan (32,090 U.S. dollars) to informants who report immolation attempts to encourage the disintegration of Tibetans. Who can hold China responsible for causing Tibetans to self-immolate?

The U.N. Security Council and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, ended the reign of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 by intervening in the North African country`s civil war to protect Libyans. The responsibility to protect the people is the concept that if a state commits inhumane crimes against its people, such as human rights abuses, the world can intervene to deter such action. The U.N. National Assembly unanimously passed this rule in September 2005. The civilian massacre in Syria is reminiscent of that in Libya. The culprit behind the recent series of self-immolation by Tibetans is China`s abuse of Tibetan sovereignty and violations of human rights. Each country might have a different value of human life. The international community must not turn away from the victims in Syria and Tibet. If not, future generations could remember the 21st century as a barbaric era.

Editorial Writer Bhang Hyeong-nam (hnbhang@donga.com)